


Teddy Bears & Wedding Rings

by sarahborg66



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arcades, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 04:50:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4692668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahborg66/pseuds/sarahborg66
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These were not the initial plans for the day. It was a relaxing day off from the rest of the team. Or at least, this part wasn’t planned to Bucky. But for Steve it’s going perfectly. He fully plans on popping the question before they leave the arcade they’re currently in.</p>
<p>Steve decides to be a cute punk in the way he finally proposes Bucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teddy Bears & Wedding Rings

**Author's Note:**

> This was part of an art swap with thewhovianat221bwithpie! They drew a lovely drawing for me, which I will link at the end of this. This was not the initial writing I was planning to make for this, the other is going to end up WAY longer than it should, but I will post it after this one.

_Ding!_

Bucky smirks, removing his flesh arm from where the paddle usually hits the Hi Striker pad. It’s been doubled in height since the last time they’d seen one on Coney Island. “Told you so.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Steve rolls his eyes, getting handed another small teddy bear by his boyfriend. “You’re only ahead by three, don’t get too cocky.”

“Oh you know it’s too late for that, Dollface.” Bucky pecks him on the cheek, intertwining their fingers together. “Where to next, sore loser?”

These were not the initial plans for the day. It was a relaxing day off from the rest of the team. Or at least, this part of the day wasn’t planned to Bucky. But for Steve, it’s going perfectly. He fully plans on popping the question before they leave the arcade they’re currently in. Before this was a calm walk down Coney Island with New York style pizza for lunch followed by Italian ice. Right now they were competing to see who could earn each other the most teddy bears while respecting the establishment they were in. A stop on the boardwalk was where they got twenty assorted stuffed animals; first to get all in their bag first won. It was limited to one each per game. Steve doesn’t have nearly as much of an edge with shooting games.

“I knew I shoulda said no to the shooting gallery games.” Steve sighs as they walk past the unoccupied machines. He forgot about the ex-assassin deal when it came to approaching them, let alone forgetting his boyfriend was the one who scoped out his ass from a distance in World War 2 in their downtime. “I’m gonna whoop you in Skee-Ball, though.”

As they approach the rows of machines, Bucky sets down his bag full of teddy bears. “I wouldn’t start talking so early if I were you. These were never your strong suit, Stevie.”

Steve scoffs, setting his bag next to the one on the ground. “Yeah because I couldn’t hold two of the balls without breaking a sweat. Now I could crush one in my hand if I wanted to.”

“How romantic, Steve. You woo all the dames like that while I was gone?” Bucky saunters over to the open game on the edge. “Coin it up, soldier. I say a solid three rounds for tickets.”

“Game on.” Without breaking eye contact, Steve sets down his cup full of tokens onto the ledge of the machine. They both put three tokens in the machines, still withholding eye contact. At the same time, they press the start buttons to allow the balls to roll into their starting positions. Before the first one hits the bottom of the holding compartment Bucky grabs it to slide it up into the 50 points. “Hey!”

“You snooze you lose. But you probably already knew that.” Bucky smirks, putting one in his left hand and shooting straight up into the 100 in the corner diagonal. “Or maybe you just suck at this, too.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve throws a ball at the 100 goal and thankfully making it. “Maybe I consider your metal arm cheating, super accuracy or whatever.”

Bucky scoffs, potting his last ball in the 40. “Because I got so much practice in the years I was brainwashed playing Skee-Ball.” His score says 430 points while the red alarm spins at the top. Steve stops and gets 250. “Got two more tries, sweetheart. Or we can move on past the humiliation and I’ll get some Tootsie Rolls with my tickets.” They still spew out of Bucky’s machine.

Steve puts three more tokens into his game, pressing the putting as soon as it lights up. “Two more tries, huh?”

∫•∫

Steve ends up losing all three matches of Skee Ball, getting the tickets put in his bag with the several small stuffed animals. Bucky barely has any, meaning Steve is failing as much as he expected he would. They find the motorcycle racing games, betting two teddy bears (a frog and a dolphin in Steve’s case) and Steve ultimately wins it in first place while Bucky ends in 4th “You always drive the bike, so it’s unfair.”

“You know a hog’s always been my style. Even when you feared I’d get shattered to death if I breathed on one.” Steve puts the two animals in Bucky’s bag, kissing him on the way back up. “Remember the time that biker guy Nick saw me messin’ with his bike?”

“I guess your looks stopped him from pummelin’ ya.” Bucky starts pulling Steve in the direction of the Dance Dance Revolution machines of everything. “Or my uniform, but maybe it was a joint effort.”

“I was dressed as the Poster Boy, Buck. I think we were just lucky England got a few tour spots in.” Steve groans when he sees where they’re headed. “Why’d you gotta torture me?”

Bucky merely smiles as he steps up to the Player One platform. “On your left.”

Steve rolls his eyes, stepping up with them so they’re both putting in four tokens each. He notices the remaining five in his cup, eyeing the last place he has to make them visit. “Don’t go too fast on it, Buck. You know I like my slow songs.”

“A romantic at heart,” Bucky presses the buttons to navigate the machine until the screen ends on _Party In the U.S.A._ by Miley Cyrus. “But you know I’m a sucker for patriotism.”

They set it to Medium difficulty and the screens pop up with the four arrows on each half of the screen. The guitar part starts up quietly, arrows elevating from the bottom of the screen. Steve misses the first right arrow, ignoring the look that he knows that Bucky is giving him. A small combo comes up that Bucky easily gets where Steve stumbles a bit. He has laser focus on the screen in front of him while Bucky has an easy smile as he calmly presses the arrows to the beat. Out of the other side of his peripherals, Steve sees a few people loitering in the open space, easily with at least two phones already filming them.

“It’s about to be documented how bad Captain America sucks at dancing,” Steve mentions when the song dies down again for the second verse. Bucky looks over to see what is now five cameras, laughing as Miley sings about shoes from the static-filled speakers. The chorus picks back up again and Steve doesn’t do as terrible as the first time around. They hear people chanting from the side about something, but Steve pays no attention to them. Right as the bridge is ending, Steve reaches over to push Bucky off his platform.

“Hey!” Bucky yells, metal arm on the pole behind his platform to keep himself from falling. He quickly tries to get back onto the platform, barely shoving Steve off balance in the process. “My combo’s gone, you asshole!”

“I’m a desperate man!” Steve calls back, trying to shove him again but failing this time. When the song ends, Bucky tackles his side but stays on the platform. He’s trying to get Steve into a half-nelson in his flesh arm when the score pulls up, Bucky still beating him by around 20 million points with a grade A score. “Oh come on!”

“Sorry, babe.” Bucky smiles, pulling him into a hug when he spots the cameras behind them with people laughing. “I still love ya even though you’re a terrible dancer.”

“I don’t even like that song.” He mutters into Bucky’s metal shoulder. He sees a flash go off on while Bucky stiffens minutely. “Let’s get somewhere more remote, yeah?” 

“Lead the way, left feet.” They pick up their things, Steve directing them to the old photobooth station, the box in his pocket weighing at least ten times more than before. Together they cram their way into the small booth with their stuff, pulling the curtain into place to hide the small crowd that formed for them. “You trying to take mementos or just hiding?”

“Bit of both?” Steve smiles, pulling out the five last tokens from his cup and one from Bucky’s. “For the first one let’s do a lame smiling one, okay?”

“Fine, bossy.” Bucky still smiles, wrapping his metal arm around Steve’s shoulder in preparation. Steve wraps his arm around Bucky's waist.

They wait for the sounds of the group who oddly waited outside the booth to dissipate before starting the pictures. The booth is going to give two strands of five pictures, as stated on the wall inside facing them. Steve has five seconds between each, ten between the two separate series. Steve’s had practice of each separation of time with what he’s going to say and when. The numbers light up on the screen, both of them looking up to the lens at the top of it. Steve slides his hand into his pocket as soon as the flash goes off after the first picture.

“Hey Buck,” Steve says. Five…Four...

“Yeah?” Bucky has a content smile on his face, metal hand massaging Steve's scalp. He closes his eyes for the second picture which gives Steve time to raise the box into frame.

The next flash goes off and Bucky moves to look at Steve, only getting distracted by the box in his hand.

“Will you marry me?” Steve opens the blue suede box with one hand it to expose a simple, wide silver band. Two...One…

The flash hits the same time the shock on Bucky’s face does. He's moved his arm out from around him, crammed shoulder to shoulder with the blond as he tries to face him in the small booth. Steve watches him expectantly, the smile on the brunet’s face growing. His smile doesn’t hit until the next flash. “You’re a freaking punk, Rogers.”

“So is that a ‘yes’ or not, jerk?” Steve laughs fondly, bringing his head closer until their foreheads bump.

“Of course it’s a yes, asshole.” Bucky doesn’t hesitate to press their lips together in a smiling mess, cupping Steve's face. Both nails and metal scrape the sides of his head in eager excitement.

The fifth flash goes off but neither of them register it. Instead they’re a laughing mess of smiles and kisses together, not separating until Steve regretfully pushes back to take the ring out of the box. To both of their surprise, they're each teary eyed. Bucky wipes away a nearly runaway tear from his eye, “You and your punkass schemes.”

“Tell me about it,” Steve raises the ring, showing the inscription of _**"'Til the end of the line - SGR"**_ engraved in cursive. As Bucky reads it, he laughs and continues to wipe away tears. Steve kisses his cheek and raises his flesh hand. “I know it’ll be on the wrong hand for now, but I think we can figure something out.”

Flash. “I think it’s perfect, Steve.” He lets the ring slide easily onto his fourth finger before engulfing Steve in a hug. They’ve both completely forgotten the camera in front of them, crying into each other's shoulder. “You dragged me to damn Coney Island and let me whoop your ass just to whoop mine in return.”

“‘Course I did,” Steve sniffs, noting the flash behind closed eyes. He opens them, sitting up to look back teary eyed at an equal mess of a fiancé. “You wouldn’t believe how happy I was to learn this was okay in the new century, Bucky. Especially with you and me back together again. It makes me the happiest man alive. I love you, Buck.”

Flash. “I love you, too, Steve.” They crash lips helplessly again with hands grasping tightly to each other.

The last flash goes off with a loud beep to signal it being the last one. To their luck, the crowd has dispersed by the time they exit the booth. With hands entwined, they each grab one of the strips of pictures, smiling unabashedly at them. In a few months time, those pictures are to be proudly displayed on the invitations and many places of their small Tower wedding.

By the time that happens, Steve will have a ring matching his husband with  _ **"'Til the end of the line - JBB"**_  engraved.

**Author's Note:**

> See the art I prompted in return for this here:  
> http://thewhovianat221bwithpie.tumblr.com/post/127827475720/robots-and-exorcisms-it-was-coming-out-really-good#notes
> 
> Follow thewhovianat221bwithpie!
> 
> My personal blog is balladass  
> My Marvel/MCU/Seb Stan blog is beanpodbucky


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